TIRANA, Albania -- The outcome of the May 8th mayoral election in Tirana took a turn after the Central Election Commission (CEC) decided on Wednesday (May 18th) to count ballots cast in other boxes by mistake. With 20 boxes opened, ruling Democratic Party (DP) candidate Lulzim Basha has taken the lead from incumbent Edi Rama, head of the opposition Socialist Party (SP). As of Tuesday, he had been clinging to a razor thin ten-vote lead.

The CEC meeting turned into a marathon session, with police blocking the entrance of the building to prevent unauthorised people, including SP lawmakers, from participating in dsicussions. Later, Rama urged the public to join a mass protest to protect the vote, which he says was "stolen by the CEC". SP lawmaker Gramoz Ruci said the CEC broke the law by counting the misdirected votes and suggested the only solution is for the people to hit the streets. Police filed a suit against him and another MP, Erion Brace, for issuing a "public call for violent actions".

THE great hope was that Albania's local elections on May 8th would deliver a clear result, in one single bound freeing the country from what Albert Rakipi, head of the Albanian Institute for International Studies, described as the ?tyranny of the status quo?. It has turned out to be a forlorn hope. Edi Rama (pictured), head of the opposition Socialist Party, has called for a general revolt against the government of Sali Berisha. Today Albania stands on the brink.

The next few days will tell whether cool heads prevail or if the country slips into serious unrest and, potentially, violence. This morning opposition supporters blocked the main Tirana to Durres highway, while protests broke out in Tirana and several other towns.

Much of the background to the election is in a piece I wrote on the day of the poll. I quoted Mr Rakipi comparing the race to run Tirana to the battle of Stalingrad. This quote is now looking rather prescient.

The immediate problem is that there was no clear victor on May 8th. The Socialists took most of Albania's major towns, but Tirana is in question. Such is the level of distrust in the system that the election count was televised. In Tirana 249,184 people voted; Mr Rama, who is running for a fourth term as mayor, won by just ten votes.

Yesterday the central election commission said there would be a recount. This has increased the chances of Lulzim Basha, the candidate of Mr Berisha?s ruling party, taking Tirana. The Socialists claim this is a ruse designed to deny them victory.

The confusion arose because in Tirana there were four ballot boxes, covering the mayoral vote as well as municipal councillors. Some ballot papers inevitably found their way into the wrong boxes. The question of whether they should be considered valid is ambiguous; there are strong arguments on both sides. "Nobody has the right to deny the will of the citizens that exercised their right to vote," says Mr Basha. It seems a reasonable point. On the other hand the electoral code and precedent seem clear: the votes should not be counted.

Albania has been paralysed since a general election in 2009 that the Socialists say was stolen by Mr Berisha. Unsurprisingly the latest development has triggered fury among their ranks. Mr Rama said: ?We should do everything with body and soul to stop the government, and the revolt brewing inside every Albanian should spill into the streets.? Gramoz Ruci, a senior party official, said that the Socialists would lead a ?popular revolt?.

ALBANIANS are voting in local elections today. Unless the polls end in violence, this is unlikely to get the pulses of international news editors racing. For Albania, however, this is a big deal. Albert Rakipi, head of the Albanian Institute for International Studies, goes as far as to compare the poll?particularly the fight for Tirana, the capital?to the battle of Stalingrad [paywall]. (Albania-watchers can follow Balkan Insight's live blog of proceedings today.)
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EC: Albania does not fulfill any criteria
While the electoral process in Albania is not over yet, the European Commission gave an idea about the next progress report for Albania, which will be released in October 12th.

Besides praising the Albanian citizens for not abusing with the free visa regime, the Commission, which has not received yet from Albania the action plan for implementing the 12 key criteria, states that our country has not fulfilled any of these criteria.

The report that is expected to be one of the harshest in the history of EU-Albania relations, will give a special focus to the electoral process, especially to the legal vagueness of CEC decision for counting miscast ballots.

Edi Rama, the maverick head of the Socialist Party (PS), called for urgent help to prevent the crisis from ?turning into a time bomb for our country?s future.?

Albania?s political scene has been starkly divided since accusations of election fraud followed 2009 parliamentary polls. Since then, tensions have flared over the shooting of four antigovernment protesters by security forces in January and the ongoing dispute over a mayoral vote in Tirana, the capital.

Now, political tension appears close to the boiling point.

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Mr. Rama, who was the incumbent in the Tirana election and deemed the loser by the country?s election commission, says he was robbed in the close race and has refused to concede.

This week in an open letter to the Albanian people, Rama launched a stinging attack on Prime Minister Sali Berisha, whose Democratic Party (PD) was deemed the winner of the mayor vote, accusing him of ?robbing? and ?killing innocent people.?

He also rebuked the country?s Central Electoral Commission (CEC) of turning ?the loser into a winner? and breaking the law after it overturned exceptionally tight mayoral election in Tirana. It declared Lulzim Basha, a rising star of the PD, the winner by only marginally more votes after an allocation of miscast ballots.

EU membership

The local elections in May were meant to help break Albania?s political deadlock and mark a new stride forward in the country?s progress toward European Union membership, but have done quite the opposite.

Albania remains one of Europe?s poorest countries, still scarred by the legacy of eccentric Stalinist dictatorship of Enver Hoxha, who led the country to a hermetic diplomatic and economic isolation. Transition since the fall of communism in 1991 has been exceptionally difficult, and the country came to the brink of civil war during unrest in 1997 during which 3,000 to 4,000 people died; divisions from that time and indeed decades before are to an extent reflected in the current political situation.

Mr. Berisha?s party retained power in the hotly contested 2009 general election. The PS claimed the government?s tight victory had been fixed, despite international observers saying the vote was largely free and fair, and boycotted parliament for nine months in protest.

Venice Commission

Rama now wants to take the dispute over the mayoral vote to the Venice Commission, an international constitutional body established by the Council of Europe, for adjudication ? a move that Berisha has rejected.

?If the legal battle does not yield an acceptable result, then they [the opposition] will turn again to what they call ?popular resistance?,? says Alba Cela, senior researcher at the Albanian Institute for International Studies (AIIS). ?We definitely can expect protests, road blocks, and the like.?

Albania?s backsliding over the past two years has caused serious concerns for its NATO allies and the EU, but the international community is currently wary of stepping in directly to an internecine Balkan fracas. Even if the Venice Commission were to call the electoral shots, there is little sign that the defeated party would be willing to accept its ruling, given how high the stakes have risen.
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"[?] we have clear evidence over the past years that the country and its politicians are able to achieve significant progress. The overall smooth implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement and the visa liberalisation are successes that show Albania's ability to firmly progress on the European path provided there is a clear political will", stated Commissioner Füle on 14 June in his address to the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Albania.

If there are found serious irregularities during the recount of votes, the Socialist Party does not exclude the possibility of repeating elections in Tirana.
Deputy Secretary for Legal Affairs in the Socialist Party, Damian Gjiknuri said this Friday that the repetition of elections is not an issue that may be determined by the SP but it is determined by the Electoral Code .

"This is an option that we do not arrange, just the Electoral Code does. After the CEC finishes the whole procces we will judge if this process is legal or not. Illegal means a process, such risks being considered by any judicial instance based on the Electoral Code, but I can not prejudge, "noted Gjiknuri.

The time of political operations within the majority, suspended by the extension of the local elections, is approaching.
Democratic Party sources said for ?Shqip? that the government changes will not be made in September, but earlier, before the closure of the parliamentary session. The last parliamentary session is set on July 28th, before the Members of Parliament start their summer holidays.

The end of the electoral process in Tirana is expected to also fill the vacancies in the government of Prime Minister Berisha. Sources of the Democratic Party declared that the vacancies that were created after the resignation of two former ministers of the cabinet for participating in May 8th elections, will be filled right after the Electoral College will declare the winner of the Tirana mayoral race.

According to this data, the vacancies in the government will be filled by the middle of July, a time in which is expected to end the legal battle for Tirana Municipality. The reason why the majority has not made any efforts for filling the vacancies is connected with the ?fear? that they have for the result of Former Minister Basha in this battle. A strong democratic candidate as Basha, who was able to win half of Tirana?s votes, cannot stay out of the government if he will lose the mayoral race.

USA: Kulicaj, crime connections
The promotion of Hysni Burgaj as General Chief of the Albanian Police and the changes he undertook only one week after taking duty, by replacing almost every police chief in Albania, has been treated in a US Embassy cable that was published on Wikileaks.

?The surprising changes in the Police show that he is untouchable?, says the title of the cable sent on 25 November 2009, referring to the promotion of Agron Kulicaj. The sudden changes in the police, even to that of the Albanian Border, have been criticized by international donators, such as PAMECA, which had trained the police agents that were discharged.

Some of the donators believe that the changes were in full accordance with the rules, but they expressed their concern for the Director of Intelligence, Agron Kulicaj, who remained immune to Burgaj?s changes. Quoting other sources, the US Embassy says that Mr. Kulicaj is corrupted and the international donators had refused to help the Albanian Police when he was on charge.

The writer of this cable underlines that Ambassador Withers has expressed his concern for the corruption in the highest ranks of the Albanian Police, including even the Interior Minsiter Lulzim Basha, quoting the concerns of ICITAP regarding Mr. Kulicaj and the Police Chief, Hysni Burgaj. But Burgaj had declared that Kulicaj had strong ties with the Prime Minister Berisha, and every attempt for removing or transferring him should come from the Prime Minister himself.

The cable has other scandalous details, if they are true, for high rank police leaders such as Mr. Kulicaj.

?We have reasons to believe, same as other US Intelligence Agencies, that Kulicaj?s corruptive practices are known by now, but there are voices in the Police who say that Kulicaj himself has helped Dritan Dajti to escape from the Police operations that aimed to arrest him.?

Quoting sources from the Albanian Police, the US Embassy has transmitted their concern for Kulicaj to the US State Department, saying that the police undertook the operation for arresting Dritan Dajti in August, exactly when Kulicaj were outside Albania, leaving him no chances to help him escape?.

The concluding comment of ambassador Withers in this cable shows the difficult position of the Police Chief in front of his dependent Agron Kulicaj:

?Burgaj declared that he has his own problems with Kulicaj and others who have been suspected for corruption and connections with the organized crime. Mr. Burgaj has been intimidated by Kulicaj, since he has close relations to the Prime Minister, as his former bodyguard. Burgaj suggested that the concerns of the US Embassy for Kulicaj should be presented to the Prime Minister Berisha, who is the only one who can decide where his former bodyguard should work?.

?Berisha?s son order for Gerdec?
The Wikileaks cable of 20 June 2008 reveals important and previously unknown details for the tragedy of Gerdec, which the US Embassy has secured after a meeting of the Ambassador Withers with the Commander Luan Hoxha, with request of the latter.

?In a hot political climate, the Commander of the Albanian Army, Luan Hoxha asked to meet the ambassador and talk about his dismissal and the cooperation with the General Prosecution, including facts about Gerdec?, the cable says.

In this meeting, General Hoxha has told his version of the facts for what happened on 15 March 2008.

Different to what was said in a public press release which blamed the way Gerdec dismantling process was operated, Hoxha says that all decisions were taken by the former Minister Fatmir Mediu, from the selection of Gerdec village as a dismantling area to the types of ammunitions that would be destroyed there, including the time that the dismantling process would take.
According to Luan Hoxha, the army personnel had orders to transport ammunitions, to guard the dismantling area and nothing else.

During the half of the project, on December 2007, Hoxha was ordered by Mediu to proceed, regardless his concern that was sent to the Prime Minister Sali Berisha, the Parliament Speaker Jozefina Topalli and the Defense Minsiter Fatmir Mediu.

After this, pressures came through the phone call of a young boy who according to Luan Hoxha was confirmed as Shkelzen Berisha, the son of the Prime Minister Sali Berisha. Hoxha?s declaration says that after this phone call, they started sending big caliber ammunition to be dismantled in Gerdec, without delaying it, according to the cable.

The Socialist Party MP, Ilir Gjoni, asked the government to take measures for making the citizens? life safer. He argued that with the high level of mafia-style murders, bank robberies and ammunition dismantles, as recently reported on Top Channel?s program ?Fiks Fare?, the country has no order and security.

?1000 people have died only in the last 10 months. 18 banks have been attacked by armed robbers, without mentioning the car bomb murders, such as that of Judge Konomi in Vlore. You can refer to the ?Fiks Fare? program of last night, for understanding how much this government takes the citizens' life in consideration. This is the most important pact that must be achieved for guaranteeing order and security for the citizens?, Gjoni declared.

The MP accused the Prime Minister of being involved with the organized crime, and asked Berisha to explain why was allowed the suspect for the murder of the Socialist MP, Fatmir Xhindi, to leave Albania and travel to Greece.

Martin Schultz, will unbedingt erneut Partner der Ganoven werden, denn alle Partein im Parlament sind rein kriminelle Vertretungen.
Schultz: This government failed
31/10/2011 20:40
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Martin Schultz, the historical leader of the left wing of the European Parliament, declared for Top Channel that the EU candidate status is a responsibility of the government, which he considers as failed and that doesn?t have the support of most of the Albanians.

Mr. Schultz, who will soon be the President of the European Parliament, declared that only a government that can come out of the new elections can bring the country in the integration path.

TCH: What were the reasons that made Albania fail with the candidate status, and how do you see the government stance when it blames the opposition?s boycott for this failure?

Martin Schultz, President of Socialist Group in the European Parliament: I think that the country needs democracy and a strong international affiliation, based on the EU values. We have criteria and with the government in office, Albania failed. But it is always easy for a government to say that it is the opposition which is responsible, but normally, in democracy, the opposition is not governing. The government is governing and the government has to take the responsibilities. Therefore, I hope that in the future, perhaps with a better government, Albania will fulfill the criteria.

TCH: Before the elections of 2009, you and Ilir Meta asked the left wing parties in Albania to come together for moving Berisha from power. Today, Ilir Meta?s party is keeping Berisha?s coalition on its feet. What relations do you have with Ilir Meta?s party now?

Schultz: I think that for open cases, all parties, but especially the government parties, must give the answers. There are many unclear things and I have no deeper knowledge for their background. I can see only the facts and what is reported to me by the news, which raises more questions rather than giving answers. I am not a judge. I cannot judge if someone is guilty or innocent. But from a Deputy Prime Minister, a party leader and especially a colleague with whom I cooperate for a long time, I expect everything to be clear. When everything is clear, there is democracy. If there are open questions, they must be answered. In my eyes, it is difficult to make an evaluation. But it is more than clear to me, and based on my experience: the government in office doesn?t have the majority of the people, and for this reason, the next elections will bring the country to a change.

TCH: What?s your opinion for the initiatives of the Socialist in justice and the 10 point plan about the EU integration?

?The Albanians are noble people, but I don?t think the same about their leaders. While Albania is progressing with its economic development, the political clashes between the main forces leave much to desire?, declared the former Minister for Europe in the British Government, Dennis McShane.

?Tirana should achieve political stability, rather than organizing protests each time that someone doesn?t like what Mr. Berisha does and people get killed. The Albanian economy is doing well and the Albanians are very good people, but when they have to do with politics, it is very regrettable?, McShane declared.

As for the political developments in Kosovo, McShane declared that Serbia and Kosovo cannot have constructive dialogue while the Serbian state takes funds from the EU and still finances the parallel structures in Northern Kosovo. For this reason, I appeal the EU to stop the funds for Serbia.

Justice not punishing officials
The High Inspectorate of Declaration and Audit of Assets (HIDAA) continues having concerns about the cooperation with the justice institutions and officials that HIDAA reports for conflict of interest or for concealment of assets.

During an interview for Top Channel, the HIDAA director, Adriatik Llalla, declared that impunity has made corrupted officials untouchable.

?A big concern for us is that most of the cases that we report to the Prosecution, have been suspended by courts. This has made corrupted officials untouchable, obliging them go above the law and common citizens?, Llalla declared.

Llalla also revealed the most used scheme by corrupted officials for concealing their assets:

?A great concern is the fact that corrupted officials hide their assets by putting it under the names of people related to them. The law must oblige the persons related to officials to declare their assets too. All illegal assets are concealed through family relatives or close friends?, Llalla declared.

According to Llalla, assets under the names of persons related to corrupted officials has turned into a phenomenon:

?Bribes are mainly made in cash, like gifts or loans, which brings the need for amending the current law. The gifts and loans phenomenon is extending, and our legal inability to take punitive measures have made them avoid legal responsibilities?, Llalla declared.

Although the draft-law for strengthening the inspection legal mechanisms against the people related with the corrupted officials was brought almost one year ago, it has not been discussed in Parliament yet.

However, Llalla sees as a positive novelty the fact that citizens have started to make more reports in the free number 0800-9999 for their suspicions on officials who conceal their wealth or that have conflict of interest.http://www.top-channel.tv/english/artikull.php?id=3989

With a three-paragraph long decision, the Supreme Court found Ilir Meta innocent, by giving the sentence that maybe was expected by many, but without an explanatory argument.

In the 21st court session of the Supreme Court for the case of the former Deputy Prime Minister, Ilir Meta, the Penal College found him innocent with four votes in favor, one against and one parallel vote. Although the decision was supposed to be announced at 13:00, the Penal College entered the room two hours and a half later.

The rapporteur of the case, Ardian Dvorani, declared that Ilir Meta, charged of active corruption for high rank state officials, was found innocent for his charges for lack of evidence, with the same sentence that Meta?s defending lawyers had requested.
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